As much as hockey and ice rinks seem to go hand-in-hand, it is a liability when Canada鈥檚 game is played on Penticton鈥檚 outdoor ice rink, says the volunteer group Activate Penticton who operate the facility.

鈥淚 hate to be the Hockey Grinch, but the Penticton outdoor rink is not the right place for hockey and the repeat offenders who keep coming to play there are making us consider shutting it down,鈥� said Drew Barnes, president of Activate Penticton.

The volunteers at Activate Penticton said they are getting close to melting the ice and closing the rink down after parents, kids and many adults continued to break the rules over the Christmas break and play hockey on the outdoor rink situated beside Gyro Park.

This comes after Activate Penticton issued a warning on Dec. 20, saying that hockey is not allowed on the rink except for private booking from 8 a.m. to noon each day. If the stick and puck continued they would consider closing the rink.

The issue is liability, said Barnes.

鈥淭he rink was built for public skating. It doesn鈥檛 have enough netting or glass for hockey and it鈥檚 a liability issue for us,鈥� said Barnes. 鈥淲e all love hockey but this isn鈥檛 the right place.鈥�

Barnes said he was at the rink at least 10 times over Christmas break and the ice was 鈥榙ominated鈥� by hockey.

鈥淭here are repeat hockey players that come that are very disrespectful. Even parents who are being aggressive. Our volunteers don鈥檛 feel safe enforcing the rules. This isn鈥檛 a city-owned facility so bylaws can鈥檛 issue tickets. We can鈥檛 issue tickets. We have no way to enforce the rules except to ask people to not play hockey,鈥� said Barnes.

鈥淪adly, we are getting close to shutting it down. It鈥檚 the last thing we want to do.鈥�

Barnes said they are getting calls and emails from people saying they came there to skate or take their grandchild or child skating but the ice was taken up by hockey.

Activate Penticton will not consider setting aside times just for hockey during public skate hours. Barnes said that wasn鈥檛 an option and that wasn鈥檛 the intended use of the rink.

Barnes and all of Activate Penticton are begging hockey players to stay off the ice or make a private booking or else their actions will ruin it for everyone.